Campaign Zero

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EVENTS

When They Go Low, We Go High – Part 2

(You got the sugar… now here’s the medicine…)

First, I need to say this:

I really like Michelle Obama. And yeah, I loved it when she said “when they go low, we go high”. So she is not the one I’m mad it. She is not the one who made this bullshit. It’s everyone else. People have twisted this statement in the same way white people like to twist MLK to use him against, for example, Black Lives Matter protesters.

When Michelle Obama said it, she was talking about being better than Donald Trump. We had the moral high ground. And for an election, it was a great soundbite that probably contributed to Hillary Clinton’s 3-million popular-vote win.

But the thing is, His Lowness, the Cheeto Fascist, Agent Orange of Fake-Tan-Landia, won the electoral college.

Yes, I have serious, deep, profound concerns about Dr. Carson’s inexperience to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Yes, I adamantly disagree with many of the outrageous things that Dr. Carson said during his presidential campaign. Yes, he is not the nominee I wanted.

Then why in the hell did you vote to approve him?

But “the nominee I wanted” is not the test.

Millions of American families depend on HUD programs, including tens of thousands of families in Massachusetts. For many of them, HUD assistance is the difference between a safe, stable home and life on the street. As someone who has spent a lot of time working on housing policy in this country, my focus is on helping these families – and the countless others who could benefit from a stronger agency.

So you thought it would be a good idea to approve Ben Carson?

During the nomination process, I sent Dr. Carson a nine-page letter with detailed questions on a whole range of issues: Section 8 housing assistance; lead exposure in public housing; programs to prevent and end homelessness; programs to help victims of domestic violence; fighting housing discrimination; HUD’s role in preparing for and recovering from natural disasters; and, more broadly, the standards he will use for managing the department, including the steps he will take to protect the rights of LGBT Americans.

BEN CARSON WILL NOT HELP LGBTQ AMERICANS! HE’S A FUCKING HOMOPHOBE YOU FUCKING…

Breathe…

Dr. Carson’s answers weren’t perfect. But at his hearing, he committed to track and report on conflicts of interest at the agency. In his written responses to me, he made good, detailed promises, on everything from protecting anti-homelessness programs to enforcing fair housing laws. Promises that – if they’re honored – would help a lot of working families.

Can we count on Dr. Carson to keep those promises? I don’t know. People are right to be skeptical; I am. But a man who makes written promises gives us a toehold on accountability.

No. No he doesn’t. You should not have approved him.

If President Trump goes to his second choice, I don’t think we will get another HUD nominee who will even make these promises – much less follow through on them.

And this is why holding the “moral high ground” is such a supreme failure. The Republicans made themselves infamous for obstructing President Obama at every fucking turn. Now you and your fellow Democrats won’t do it… why? Because you’re afraid of being seen as hypocrites?

You shouldn’t fucking care. This is the time to be hypocrites. This is the time to be petty. Obstruct the Cheeto Fascist at every fucking turn. Vote “no” on ALL his appointees, not just some of them (props to you, Warren, for voting against Betsy DeVos, but that does not excuse you for voting for Carson).

If Dr. Carson doesn’t follow through on his commitments, I will be the very first person he hears from – loudly and clearly and frequently. I didn’t hesitate to criticize past HUD Secretaries when they fell short, and I won’t hesitate with Dr. Carson – not for one minute.

These words are pathetically empty considering you fucking voted for him.

I understand that some people might have made the call differently. I appreciate your making your thoughts heard. Unlike the new Administration, I don’t believe in ignoring or silencing people who disagree with the choices I make or the votes I take.

We’ve got a lot of nominees to consider, and a lot of places where we need to turn up the heat under the Senate Republicans. (Yes, Betsy DeVos, I’m looking at you. And Pruitt, Mnuchin, Puzder, Price, Tillerson – it’s a long list.) Either way, we need all of us in this fight. Your voices are powerfully important, and I hope you’ll keep speaking up for what you believe in.

Oh fuck off with that condescending bullshit.

Clearly, I’m still mad at her. And no, I will never be able to trust or support her again, sadly.

But it doesn’t end there, because what Agent Orange has done in just his first few days is utterly disturbing.

The Awful Cheeto attempted to issue a gag order over climate change to the EPA, freeze EPA grants, and take down any government websites talking about climate change. As of 5 hours ago (from 4:46 pm EST), the EPA’s Climate Change website is still live and grants are unfrozen. But of course, the person he’s nominated to head the EPA, Scott Pruitt, denies climate change outright.

Trump even authorized the building of new camps in which undocumented immigrants could be concentrated — for a limited time, of course — until they could be deported (I feel like there’s a term for these things, but I can’t quite place it).

And really? This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. If you follow AJ+ English on Facebook, they are posting daily pictures tracking what The Cheeto Fascist is doing.

I’m sorry, but…

We simply cannot afford to “go high”. The time for going high ended with his electoral college win. Now is the time to fight back by whatever means necessary. Many, myself included, are genuinely afraid that he may be the last president the US ever elects.

But that leads us to yet another question, which I plan on discussing in a couple blog posts soon…

Could Agent Orange become a fascist dictator?

(Also, if you can think of other nicknames to refer to Trump, I would appreciate it. I refuse to give him respect or acknowledge him as president, so I could use as many derogatory nicknames as possible; just make sure the nicknames punch up and avoid splash damage. Thanks.)

One way I wish the Democrats in Washington would go low is to stop trying to be ‘the reasonable one’.
“We can’t block all appointments, because Republicans did that, and we need to be the reasonable one.”
“We’re opposed to any new regulations on abortion, but we have to compromise with Republicans on this, because they don’t and we need to be the reasonable one.”
“We have to respect the office of the President, because we need to be the reasonable one, even when Republicans aren’t.”

The truth of the matter is that with their majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans are going to push through their preferred nominees, no matter what the Democrats do. What does it cost Warren or Brown to stand against Carson? What do they gain by voting for him? It’s certainly not the respect of Republicans, and it’s definitely not the respect of their constituents.

(As for nicknames for the Groper-in-Chief, I’ve taken a liking to Trumplethinskin.)

If President Trump goes to his second choice, I don’t think we will get another HUD nominee who will even make these promises – much less follow through on them.

And this is why holding the “moral high ground” is such a supreme failure. The Republicans made themselves infamous for obstructing President Obama at every fucking turn. Now you and your fellow Democrats won’t do it… why? Because you’re afraid of being seen as hypocrites?

Over on Facebook, in a private Facebook group (TWiBNation: Politics), I got into an argument with a member (who has since been kicked out for different reasons) who insisted that the Dems were not treating the Repubs the way the Repubs treat them because they don’t want to appear as hypocrites. Apparently, Dems have said this before. That is specifically what I was referring to; the fact that Dems apparently don’t want to be seen doing to the Repubs what they complained about the Repubs doing to them.

I feel like… that’s the fucking point. That’s exactly what they should be doing. Use the Repub’s tactics against them.

Otherwise, though, of course you’re right… politicians in general are hypocrites…

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Parse @ #2:

Agreed 100%. And I love Trumplethinskin.

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besomyka @ #3:

Well damn! That list is awesome! Thank you!

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Holms @ #4:

Listen.

I am genuinely angry at progressives right now. I really hate them for holding up, as the face of a “progressive revolution“, an old white man who held low-key racist-adjacent ideas (like “the white working class should be the Democrats’ target demographic” and “reparations is too politically divisive”), had zero idea how he was going to implement his promises, and was actually pretty conservative when it came to guns. And then many of them refused to vote for Hillary Clinton, with some not voting at all, some voting for fucking Jill Stein (don’t even get me started), and some actually voting for Donald Trump.

If this is how the left “eats itself”, then fuck the left; they fucking deserve it.

(Yes yes… I know that Clinton won the popular vote; but she lost it where it mattered, which is how she lost the electoral college.)

There is one good reason -- the only one I can think of -- why you would accept Ben Carson

He is stupid enough to be captured by the bureaucracy around him.

You cannot say that out loud as a politician.
But if we’re going to give credence to regulatory capture by Wall Street, there is a good chance the bureaucracy can handle Ben Carson.

The risks are:
Someone smart in Trump’s inner-circle will run it for him
Trump will abandon Carson no matter how many ‘good’ (left) decisions he makes
They will care about what he does (or maybe they won’t) but only if it’s a huge mess.

Good sign so far -- no one has wiped out the HHS top echelon like they have done at the State Department
All HHS candidates will be given a smaller budget and the top HHS echelon, if guiding the process, will choose better priorities than a ‘better/worse’ idealogue

Show me a candidate smarter than Ben Carson and driven strongly by ideology -- and chosen by Trump -- and I will show you someone worse than Carson.
DeVos has a driven ideology -- I’d dump her